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sunduck's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Act 1 is absolutely solid. Act 2 has great moments but feels out of place.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Blood, and Body horror
Moderate: Animal death, Vomit, Violence, Stalking, and Murder
archaicrobin's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Adam Nevill is one of my favorite horror authors and The Ritual is a perfect example why. Nevill has amazing characterizations, suspenseful storytelling, and a plot with so many layers it’s hard to put down!
Four college bros meet up again years later for a holiday weekend hiking in Sweden. The four all have unresolved tensions, which linger over the holiday, and worsen the trip. In hopes of ending it early, they decide to take an uncharted path through the forest. But what once seemed like a good idea quickly darkens as the four realize the forest is off in some way, and much bigger than anticipated. And there’s something following them …..
I love creature features, especially when the creature is based on regional lore. The Ritual has an excellent mix of survival horror and supernatural horror woven into myth and lore native to Norway and Sweden. The descriptions of the unknown creature that lurks in these woods alongside the slowly crumbling friendship of these men is truly horrifying.
Survival horror and Supernatural horror are my favorite genres, so to see the two combined so well was perfect.
If you enjoy dark fantasy, supernatural horror, or survival horror I would recommend The Ritual for its excellent storytelling.
Four college bros meet up again years later for a holiday weekend hiking in Sweden. The four all have unresolved tensions, which linger over the holiday, and worsen the trip. In hopes of ending it early, they decide to take an uncharted path through the forest. But what once seemed like a good idea quickly darkens as the four realize the forest is off in some way, and much bigger than anticipated. And there’s something following them …..
I love creature features, especially when the creature is based on regional lore. The Ritual has an excellent mix of survival horror and supernatural horror woven into myth and lore native to Norway and Sweden. The descriptions of the unknown creature that lurks in these woods alongside the slowly crumbling friendship of these men is truly horrifying.
Survival horror and Supernatural horror are my favorite genres, so to see the two combined so well was perfect.
If you enjoy dark fantasy, supernatural horror, or survival horror I would recommend The Ritual for its excellent storytelling.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Blood, Dysphoria, Murder, Death, Body horror, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Gun violence, Sexism, and Violence
chessakat's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I feel like this was almost two books smashed together. I greatly preferred the first half - so scary and atmospheric! Lots of dread but also just magic, friend tension, drama.
The second half just epically needed an editor - I think I just got EXTREMELY fatigued by the high state of tension. Like, you can only feel despair and hopelessness for so long before my brain is just like, please, for the love of dog, make something plot-y happen again. It just dragged so so much. I think I just strongly preferred the supernatural scary to the humans. They were so banal.
By the time the end came I was so ready for it to be over that finally seeing the monster was just like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .
Curious to see the movie adaptation, as I heard it diverges from the book quite a bit.
The second half just epically needed an editor - I think I just got EXTREMELY fatigued by the high state of tension. Like, you can only feel despair and hopelessness for so long before my brain is just like, please, for the love of dog, make something plot-y happen again. It just dragged so so much. I think I just strongly preferred the supernatural scary to the humans. They were so banal.
By the time the end came I was so ready for it to be over that finally seeing the monster was just like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .
Curious to see the movie adaptation, as I heard it diverges from the book quite a bit.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Grief, Physical abuse, Confinement, Fatphobia, Violence, Blood, Body shaming, and Gore
hagss's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I thought the plot and storyline was really great. But not so much the body shaming and misogynistic view of one of the only female characters or the use of slurs.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Minor: Fatphobia, Misogyny, and Body shaming
raychelbennet's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
If (like me) you decided to read this book because you enjoyed the movie so much, do yourself a favor and don't do that.
Here's what Adam Nevill told me is the worst horror in the world: being fat. Being fat is the most monstrous thing about humanity. We're going to overlook the cool, tree-like monster thing and instead talk about the fat, flubby, and/or chubby bodies of people in nearly every single sentence. It's exhausting. It's fatphobic. It ruins the whole book IMO
The *real* cincher for me though was when--for absolutely no reason other than to be a creep--Neville decided to describe a teen girl as having a doughy, yogurty-smelling c*nt. I'm going to go vomit somewhere to get that sentence out of my head.
This is another book I wish I hadn't read. Usually I can find some redeeming qualities, but the bad far outweighs the good.
Here's what Adam Nevill told me is the worst horror in the world: being fat. Being fat is the most monstrous thing about humanity. We're going to overlook the cool, tree-like monster thing and instead talk about the fat, flubby, and/or chubby bodies of people in nearly every single sentence. It's exhausting. It's fatphobic. It ruins the whole book IMO
The *real* cincher for me though was when--for absolutely no reason other than to be a creep--Neville decided to describe a teen girl as having a doughy, yogurty-smelling c*nt. I'm going to go vomit somewhere to get that sentence out of my head.
This is another book I wish I hadn't read. Usually I can find some redeeming qualities, but the bad far outweighs the good.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Torture, Confinement, Violence, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Ableism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Classism, and Gore
Moderate: Violence and Animal death
danimacuk's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Cursing, Death, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Gore, and Gun violence
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Grief, and Confinement
coleyreads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
The first half of this book was exciting, mysterious, tense and thrilling! I got to the end of the first half and it felt like an ending… but I still had half a book left? The next half was the weirdest storyline and a total 180 from where we had just been. I don’t know what it added for me, or if it was the right thing to do for the book but I enjoyed the very end with our main character.
The first half of the story took a long time to tell and we only spanned about 3 days, although it was still enjoyable. The last half felt rushed, yet took ages, spanning well over a week.
The writing style was very descriptive and flowery, although not in a pleasant storytelling way. It’s set in a scary forest with malevolent forces at play, so what can you expect. This was my first Nevill so I’m unsure if I enjoyed his writing and think I need to give another book a go!
I ended up watching the film right away and it’s quite different. I get you don’t have as long in films to lay out the backstory of the characters and play out all the intense descriptions. But, I think I enjoyed the book more.
Overall, I’m giving Adam Nevill another chance to impress me even more. This one had a lot of potential but took too long and had me drifting at parts.
The first half of the story took a long time to tell and we only spanned about 3 days, although it was still enjoyable. The last half felt rushed, yet took ages, spanning well over a week.
The writing style was very descriptive and flowery, although not in a pleasant storytelling way. It’s set in a scary forest with malevolent forces at play, so what can you expect. This was my first Nevill so I’m unsure if I enjoyed his writing and think I need to give another book a go!
I ended up watching the film right away and it’s quite different. I get you don’t have as long in films to lay out the backstory of the characters and play out all the intense descriptions. But, I think I enjoyed the book more.
Overall, I’m giving Adam Nevill another chance to impress me even more. This one had a lot of potential but took too long and had me drifting at parts.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gore, Body horror, Blood, Cursing, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Murder
bugsoup's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
Moderate: Vomit, Fatphobia, Murder, and Body shaming
Minor: Addiction, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Toxic friendship, Religious bigotry, and Homophobia
ggcd1981's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Eu tinha interesse em ler os livros de Adam Nevill havia um tempo e tendo a perspectiva de assistir à adaptação para filme de The Ritual resolvi ler o livro antes. Em geral achei a obra uma sólida história de terror, porém com alguns problemas. Em primeiro lugar os personagens, os quais eram mais numerosos do que a sinopse deu a entender. Inicialmente se tem os 4 “amigos da universidade”, Luke, Hutch, Phil e Dom que após não se verem por alguns anos resolvem ir juntos em uma viagem pela natureza escandinava no Círculo Ártico, onde acabam tomando um atalho por uma floresta ancestral com entidades antigas e sinistras. Isso dá início ao pesadelo do grupo. Desses 4 personagens iniciais apenas Luke, e talvez um pouco Dom, são mais aprofundados. Luke é o protagonista e gostei dele como personagem, porém alguns diálogos combinados com a narração de David Thorpe fizeram o personagem em alguns momentos parecer choramingar muito, tendo longos momentos de auto piedade. Apesar de gostar de Luke esses elementos desgastaram um pouco o personagem para mim. Os personagens introduzidos na segunda metade do livro, Loki, Fenris, Surtr, e a velha (acredito que nenhum nome foi dado a ela no texto) foram bons vilões secundários, porém foram mal utilizados em alguns momentos. Isso me leva a atmosfera, que foi bastante eficiente em grande parte da narrativa. A floresta antiga e sombria, a impressão de que havia sempre algo os seguindo e os observando. A ideia de que havia todo um povo que servia o que quer que seja que estava na floresta e que a velha era a última desse povo foi assustadora. Contudo, houveram momentos em que o autor quebrou a atmosfera desnecessariamente, deixando a segunda metade do livro mais lenta e menos aterrorizante. Nevill escreveu longos diálogos entre Luke e Loki, entre Luke e Fenris, e até mesmo longos monólogos mentais para Luke. Todos estes fizeram a narrativa perder ritmo e se arrastar quebrando o clima de terror, pois se Luke estava tendo longas conversas racionais com seus captores a situação se torna mais mundana e menos sinistra e assustadora. O terror da metade final do livro teria sido mais eficiente se os diálogos, e no caso de Luke monólogos, tivessem sido mais diretos, menos prolixos. A escrita em geral foi boa, a não ser pelos problemas já citados (diálogos e monólogos longos e desnecessários). O enredo teve reviravoltas inesperadas. Confesso que a mudança de cenário da segunda parte da obra me surpreendeu. Do início ao meio da narrativa foi quando a história fluiu melhor, porém as sequências finais foram interessantes. O final foi cheio de ação apesar da cena de encerramento deixar a história em aberto. A lógica interna a história foi um pouco turva, poucas explicações foram dadas sobre o que era a entidade que caçava na floresta. Menções foram feitas a figura do demônio existente nas Religiões Cristãs, também foi dado o nome de Odin a entidade (apesar que não sei quão fiel é este livro as religiões nórdicas). Durante grande parte do tempo tive a impressão de que a entidade seria algo antigo que não necessariamente tinha um nome e os personagens humanos tentaram encaixa-la em figuras de religiões convencionais. Além disso porque este ser poupou Luke na floresta? Teria sido apenas para que a velha, Loki e os outros, após ter encontrado e trazido Luke para a antiga casa, o entregassem em sacrifício? Burocrática essa entidade. The Ritual teve momentos sólidos de terror e alguns momentos tediosos de diálogos. No geral foi, em maior parte, eficiente como uma história de terror. Dou 3.75 estrelas.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Blood, Body shaming, Confinement, Bullying, Death, Car accident, Kidnapping, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Stalking, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Misogyny, and Sexism
graceprechtel's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Body horror, and Blood
Moderate: Fatphobia
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